Posts Tagged ‘Always Sometimes Monsters’

Share this:

2014’s Always Sometimes Monsters is a curious RPG, about an author crossing the USA to break up a wedding after being kicked out their apartment, with plenty of unpleasant decisions, prejudice, and hardship along the way. Ben’s Wot I Think called it “brilliant but flawed.” Now developers Vagabond Dog are showing off more of their sequel named Sometimes Always Monsters [official site], which surely won’t cause any confusion. Good news: everything turned out great! Bad news: it’s all going wrong!

Share this:

“Brilliant but flawed” is how Ben describedAlways Sometimes Monsters, an RPG which sprawls and branches and reacts in squillions of ways depending on who and how you play. You’re a struggling writer making one desperate lunge at life, out of money, kicked out your apartment, and pining for a lost love. It’s perhaps a hard sell, so last week developers Vagabond Dog released a demo with an extra framing narrative to perfectly fit that horrible loser theme: you play a games journo who goes to the launch event, plays Always Sometimes Monsters, then writes a review.

Share this:

If you’re bored of your own listless existence, Always Sometimes Monsters aims to offer an alternative. Starring a character of your choosing who is down on their luck, broke, homeless and love-lost, it’s about their quest to get their flat back, cross country for their ex’s wedding and preferably become rich and famous on the way. Naturally, I ended up a homeless loser who can’t put the past behind him, shot in the face in a ditch. Here’s Wot I Think and, much like the game, it contains discussion of a number of topics that some readers may find unsettling.

I’m not sure exactly how you’re supposed to choose your avatar in Always Sometimes Monsters, but I went for the guy I named James because he had absinthe at a party. While others wimped out with wine and beer, this was a man who didn’t piss around with lesser alcohol. Despite my legendary light-weightedness, it was something I could respect. And it is, immediately, where my experience of the game will differ from yours.

Share this:

We’re directionless in life. Lost, drifting from day to day, doing the same thing over and over, not really working towards any clear goal. Why oh why would I want to play a ‘real-life’ RPG when every day is grinding misery? Oh! But Always Sometimes Monsters actually has a clear goal, to somehow get across the United States within 30 days to break up the wedding of “your one true love.” So now we can all experience life as a colossal clueless selfish jerk–but one with a goal–as Vagabond Dog’s RPG launched last night.

Share this:

Editor’s note: RPS will no longer be covering PAX events. We believe that the values of the company operating those events conflict with ours, and as such we can no longer endorse their actions by providing coverage of PAX events. An explanation of this can be read here. However, others argue that attending can be an effective way to respond to the company’s poor behaviour, and that being there is a way to change things from within. Nathan spoke to people on both sides of the boycott at this year’s controversial event.

To Boycott PAX Or Not To Boycott PAX? That really is the question these days, isn’t it? The saga, up to this point, has been long, turbulent, and ugly. Penny Arcade’s tangled two-headed hydra of a creative force has been at the forefront of some pretty nasty movements over the years – the Dickwolves incident, which saw Mike “Gabe” Krahulik and Jerry “Tycho” Holkins stand resolutely unapologetic over a rape joke that made many fans deeply uncomfortable (instead of saying sorry, they went and sold freaking merchandise), easily stands as the most visible. In the wake of that, similar incidents, and Krahulik acting vocally intolerant of transgender people, Gone Home developer Fullbright – who we spoke to in regards to this article – went so far as to pull out of this year’s PAX altogether. But others – many of whom absolutely abhor Penny Arcade’s oftentimes turgid stances and values – attended despite all of that. Speaking with developers behind games like Journey, Always Sometimes Monsters, and Child of Light, and other fans and critics from many walks of life, I found out why.

Share this:

There’s a fantastical element to the majority of games that the medium steadfastly refuses to differ from. It’s not an issue in itself, of course, but the lack of variety is always something we should battle against. Here, then, comes the newly announced Always Sometimes Monsters from Vagabond Dog, a game about an ordinary human being whose life happens to have taken a turn for the shit. With gender, race and sexual orientation left up to the player, this person finds themselves unable to pay their rent and the love of their life about to be wed to someone else. From there, their journey is up to you. Click on for announcement trailer and some further details.